There are many alternate names commonly used for a weed trimmer device, including but not limited to: weed trimmer, brush cutter, string trimmer, string trimmer machine, trimmer device, weed trimmer machine, weed-whacker, rotary cutting device and strimmer machine. The string trimmer device is coupled with a power source which supplies rotary power for spinning a head section or trimmer head. The trimmer device is traditionally configured to allow the user to place the trimmer head near the ground. The trimmer head is configured to hold trimmer line or cutting blades for the purpose of impacting and cutting vegetation.
As is known in the art, some head sections (trimmer heads) for rotary cutting devices employ pivotally mounted blades that extend outwardly from the head section such that, when the head section is rotated, the blades are also rotated to cut vegetation or other items as necessary. Other head sections employ strips of line which also extend outwardly from the head section such that, when the head section is rotated, the strips of monofilament line are forced in an outward radial direction to cut vegetation. Blades and monofilament line are the two most common types of cutting elements used with weed trimmer machines.
The trimmer line is capable of cutting grass and lighter vegetation. Blades are needed for vegetation with larger stalks and for cutting tree saplings. Blades are not the best choice for trimming lawn grasses or for conducting typical trimming tasks around decorative borders used at many residential homes. A monofilament line is a better choice for those situations. However, there are occasions when the residential user could benefit from having a heavier duty blade available for cutting denser and larger vegetation. As such, a trimmer head which can accommodate both blades and trimmer line is beneficial, preferably a trimmer head that can utilize either cutting blades or trimmer line without the need for changing the head section.
One of the drawbacks from prior attempts to combine trimmer line and cutting blades into a single trimmer head is that the line holding mechanisms and blade holding mechanisms which secure the cutting elements to the trimmer head require space within the trimmer head. Because of this space requirement, the two types of mechanisms tend to interfere with the movement of the actual cutting element held by the adjacent mechanism. Prior to this invention, a trimmer head configured with both pivotally mounted blades and pivoting line holders has not been available. Most significantly, the blade and line heads available prior to this invention did not allow both types of cutting elements to be utilized at the same time where both types of cutting elements could each pivot more than 90 degrees in one direction prior to striking a portion of the trimmer head or the adjacent mechanism holding the adjacent cutting element.
There are many alternate names commonly used for the monofilament line used for cutting vegetation including but not limited to: trimmer line, weed trimmer line, grass trimmer line, monofilament line, string trimmer line, strimmer line, cutting line, line, line strips, strips, flails, and weed whacker line. Monofilament line is sold in many different cross-sectional shapes and is made from many different types of nylon plastic. Some of the nylon plastics are more easily deformed than others and some materials have lower melting points than others.
There are also many alternate names commonly used for the pivoting line holders including but not limited to: posts, pivoting line holders, pivoting posts, pivot posts, line holding mechanisms and pivoting line holding mechanisms. All of these terms may be used interchangeably. These terms are used with line holders that are designed to pivot about a vertical axis. Some of these terms, however, are also used with line holders that are not designed to pivot.